Your Facebook Reputation: Now Entirely Searchable

We know that everything you share online is permanent. After all, the Internet never forgets. Your permanent online reputation includes Facebook posts, photos, and even Likes. But we haven’t had a straightfoward tool for globally searching content on the social media site. Until now.

What Facebook Graph Search Can Find

We’ve always been able to find public posts, photos, and other content by visiting the profile of a single Facebook user. If you have enough time and patience, you can scroll back to see every public post a user has made since they started their account. But now, an expanded Facebook Graph Search has made it even easier to find posts, likes, and more from individuals or even groups of people.

Graph Search now allows searches based on tagged locations, posts you’ve commented on, all posts from a single year, posts that involve specific friends, and more. That means a public post you made all the way back in 2004 is now just a few keystrokes away. It’s also very easy to discover your favorite locations, connections, close friends, and interests.

Graph Search Privacy for Facebook Reputation Management

Understanding your Facebook privacy settings has always been an important step in online reputation management, but now, it’s essential. Posts and old photos that may have been buried under years of newer content are now easy to unearth with a simple search. Your Likes, however obscure, are now searchable information as well. You can be lumped into groups you didn’t even know existed, too.

Remember, Facebook posts are set to Public (searchable) by default. You’ll have to take action if you don’t want to be a part of Graph Search’s public results. But locking down posts is not enough to manage your Facebook reputation. Now is a great time for Facebook users to audit Likes, photos, and friends as well. Consider how each connection or piece of content reflects on you before deciding to stick with it. You can also edit any posts that you want to keep, but may need some modifying for a global public audience. Check your Activity Log to see all of your posts and activity from today to the beginning of your Facebook account, including tags, connections, and Likes. Remember, everything is easier to find with the new Graph Search, not just status updates.

Facebook Graph Search for Business Reputation Management

Facebook’s expanded Graph Search is primarily an individual concern, but it may increasingly become a part of online reputation management for businesses as well. As we’ve seen in the “current employers of people who like Racism” search, it’s mind-numbingly easy to create a profile of a company’s employees. We can also use Graph Search to efficiently and accurately investigate what the public thinks of any company just by searching for their name. And there’s nearly a decade of Facebook history to search. For major companies, that could mean millions, even billions of posts, Likes, and photos that may or may not be flattering to their reputation.

Facebook’s newly expanded Graph Search has made the social media site an even more important property to audit in your online reputation management checklist. Whether you’re an individual or a business, Facebook information -what you like, your employees, your connections, everything you’ve ever posted- is easier to find than ever before.

About the Author

Born and proudly raised in Syracuse, NY, Joseph joined the team in 2008 as the Director of Reputation Management after earning his B.S. in Public Policy. He is now the Vice President of the department.